MassBio Board of Directors

Geoffrey F. Cox, Ph.D.
Chairman

Dr. Cox is a Partner at Red Sky Partners LLC, a firm providing corporate strategy, business development and virtual and transition operating management services to clients in the biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals industry. He has over 35 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience in a broad range of senior management positions in operations management, as a CEO and as a member of the board of public and private companies.

In 1984, Dr. Cox joined Genzyme Corporation in the U.K. and then, in 1988, became Senior Vice President, Operations, in the U.S. Dr. Cox later became Executive Vice President responsible for operations and the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and genetics business units of Genzyme. Prior to joining Genzyme, Dr. Cox was General Manager of the U.K. manufacturing operations for  Gist-Brocades.

In 1997, Dr. Cox became Chairman and CEO of Aronex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in The Woodlands, Texas, and subsequently, in July 2001, he became Chairman, President and CEO of GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., based in Framingham, Massachusetts, a position he held until June 2010.

Dr. Cox is non-executive Chairman of the Board of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and a Director of Gallus Biopharmaceuticals. He also served for a number of years on the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and also as a member of their Emerging Companies Section and Healthcare Section Governing Body Committees.

Dr. Cox received a B.Sc. (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, U.K. and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of East Anglia, U.K.

Geoff MacKay
Vice Chairman

Mr. MacKay serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Canton-based Organogenesis. He has served in his current leadership role since December 2003. Mr. MacKay provides Organogenesis with significant global, commercial experience spanning the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Mr. MacKay has held numerous leadership positions within Novartis AG in roles such as Vice-President and Business Unit Head, Transplantation and Immunology at Novartis Canada, Vice-President of Tissue-Engineering in Novartis USA, Head of Global Sales Immunology and Transplantation based in Basel, Switzerland, and prior to that as Sales and Marketing Manager of Novartis Biotech Europe. Mr. MacKay has been specifically involved in the emerging field of regenerative medicine for the last decade.

Michael O'Hara
Treasurer

Mr. O'Hara is a partner and leads the life sciences audit practice of Deloitte in Boston.  In addition to serving many life sciences companies in various capacities, Mr. O'Hara also serves as audit partner for publicly traded and private life sciences companies and a large integrated healthcare system, and therefore has a comprehensive understanding of the healthcare industry.  Mr. O'Hara has been involved in several IPOs, mergers and acquisitions engagements, financial forecasting projects, and value-added projects on accounting and financial reporting.  Mr. O'Hara has assisted his clients through product launches and rapid growth phases including advising on financial and operational infrastructure challenges.  In addition to his role as Treasurer of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Mr. O'Hara is a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) and the Medfield Youth Hockey Association.  He is also a member of the AICPA and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and is an adjunct professor of accounting and auditing at Boston College.

Mr. O'Hara received his BA from Oneonta State University and his MBA from Boston College.  He lives in Medfield, MA with his wife Maryclare, son Liam and daughter Maeve.

Glenn Batchelder
Clerk

Mr. Batchelder serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Civitas Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Citivas, he was President & CEO of BIND Biosciences, and CEO of Acceleron Pharma, a company developing biotherapeutics for cancer and musculoskeletal disorders.  He grew Acceleron from a research start-up to a clinical stage company with promising bone loss therapy in the clinic and a robust preclinical pipeline.

Prior to Acceleron, Mr. Batchelder was Senior Vice President of Operations at Millennium Pharmaceuticals where he played an integral leadership role in the launch of VELCADE and was responsible for the commercial supply chain and technical operations for INTEGRILIN.

Mr. Batchelder received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University.

Mark Leuchtenberger
Immediate Past Chairman

Mr. Leuchtenberger was Chairman of the MassBio board from 2008-2010 and currently serves as CEO at Rib-X Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that position, he served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Targanta Therapeutics Corporation and led the company's successful IPO in 2007, and acquisition in 2009. He joined Targanta from Therion Biologics Corporation, a privately-held cancer vaccine company, where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer from 2002 to 2006. Under his leadership, Therion filed its first IND, progressed through Phase 3 trials, completed the buildup of its commercial manufacturing capabilities, and raised over $120 million in three rounds of private financing.

Prior to joining Therion, Mr. Leuchtenberger was a senior officer at Biogen, where he served as Vice President, International from 1999-2002. In this capacity, he led all commercial operations outside of North America. He joined Biogen in 1990 and was responsible for managing the late-stage development, registration, marketing, and North American launch of Avonex®. He subsequently served as Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development, where he oversaw North American commercial operations as well as Biogen's global market, licensing and strategic partnership activities. Prior to Biogen, Mr. Leuchtenberger worked as a Senior Consultant at Bain and Company specializing in healthcare products and services.

Mr. Leuchtenberger received an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and a B.A. from Wake Forest University. He currently serves on boards for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Wake Forest University.

Mark R. Bamforth

Mr. Bamforth is the President and CEO of Gallus Biopharmaceuticals, a Contract Manufacturing company formed in 2010 with the acquisition of an existing, approved bulk biologics manufacturing site from a “big pharma” company. Prior to Gallus, Mark was the SVP, Corporate Operations and Pharmaceuticals at Genyzme. He was responsible for Genzyme's global manufacturing operations and strategic capacity planning as well as the Pharmaceuticals business. Prior to 2000, Mr. Bamforth ran Genzyme's United Kingdom operations. Before joining Genzyme, Mr. Bamforth worked as a drilling engineer in the North Sea offshore oil industry and then as a chemical engineer in the whisky industry in Scotland. Mr. Bamforth has an M.B.A. from Henley Business School and a B.Sc. Honours in chemical engineering from Strathclyde University.

Dr. Abbie Celniker, Ph.D.

Abbie Celniker, Ph.D is the CEO of Eleven Biotherapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on engineering and developing innovative protein-based therapies.  Dr. Celniker has been in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years where she has worked in small and mid-sized biotechnology companies as well as mid-sized and large pharmaceutical companies.  Prior to Eleven, Abbie was head of Translational Medicine at Alexion Pharmaceuticals by way of the acquisition of Taligen Therapeutics where she was the President and CEO.  Prior to joining Taligen, Dr. Celniker was the Global Head of Novartis Biologics where she was responsible for the oversight of the discovery and development of the Novartis biologics pipeline.  Dr. Celniker has also been the Global Head of the Program Office for the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) where she was responsible for the global integration and oversight of the Novartis Discovery Portfolio.  In a previous role at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Celniker led the pipeline portfolio review committee and headed Development Project Management and Pharmaceutical Sciences.  Prior to Millennium, Dr. Celniker was at Wyeth, where she was assistant vice president for predevelopment and biopharmaceutical core technologies. She has previously held positions at Genetics Institute, Genentech Inc. and the University of Arizona Cancer Center.  Dr. Celniker has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California at San Diego and earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Arizona.

Margaret Chu-Moyer, Ph.D.

Margaret Chu-Moyer is Executive Director Research, Amgen, Inc. and Site Head, Amgen Massachusetts.  Margaret joined Amgen’s Chemistry Research and Development group in 2009 as head of medicinal chemistry for the Cambridge site.

Prior to joining Amgen, Margaret served in a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Groton, CT.  Over the course of her 16-year tenure in the Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases therapeutic area, she was responsible for leading medicinal chemistry drug discovery research in diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and frailty, resulting in over a dozen development candidates.  She also led the CVMED Hit-to-Lead/Lead Generation Group.  Margaret currently serves on the Broad/Harvard-Chemical Methodology & Library Development External Advisory Board and was recognized as one of Mass High Tech’s 2011 Women to Watch.

Margaret received her BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and obtained her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale University where her research focused on natural products total synthesis.

Errol DeSouza

Dr. Errol De Souza joined the Biodel management team as President and CEO as well as the Board of Directors in March of 2010.  Dr. De Souza has nearly two decades of experience in the field of drug discovery and development. Since January 2009, Dr. De Souza has been a pharmaceutical and biotechnology consultant. From April 2003 to January 2009, Dr. De Souza was President and Chief Executive Officer of Archemix Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on aptamer therapeutics. From September 2002 to March 2003, he was President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Synaptic Pharmaceuticals. As a result of a merger effective March 2003, Synaptic Pharmaceuticals became a wholly-owned subsidiary of H. Lundbeck A/S, an international pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Dr. De Souza held senior management positions with Aventis, and its predecessor company Hoechst Marion Roussel Pharmaceuticals, and was co-founder of Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. He is currently a Director of several biopharmaceutical companies including Bionomics Limited, and Targacept, Inc.  Dr. De Souza received his B.A. (Honors) in physiology and his Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology from the University of Toronto and he received his postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Jeffrey Elton

Jeff Elton has 20 years of experience as a consultant, executive, and investor in the biopharmaceutical and biomedical sectors. He is the founder, vice chairman, and CEO of KEW Group, LLC a Personalized Medicine and oncology care delivery company; faculty member at Boston University School of Management; and advisor to a number of mature and early stage life science companies.

Prior to founding KEW Group, Mr. Elton was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Global Chief Operating Officer at Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research, Inc. (NIBR) in Cambridge, MA.  He led the definition of disease area, research partnership, and global operations strategies. Mr. Elton oversaw all NIBR operations in the US, Europe, and Asia, responsible for Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Patents, Business Development, Information Technology, Research Operations, Facilities, and Strategy & Operations, Security, and Communications.  Before Novartis, Mr. Elton was a partner with McKinsey & Company PMP and Intellectual Property/Strategy practices, and has been published in Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, Radiology, In Vivo and other noted publications.

Mr. Elton is a member of the advisory board of the Harvard Medical School - Partners Healthcare Center for Genetics and Genomics; a member of the advisory board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Start Up Initiative; executive committee and board member of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; and overseer of the DeCordova Museum of Art.  He holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics and Marketing and an M.B.A. in Finance and Statistics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

 

Scott Gillis

Scott H. Gillis is CEO of Onsite Therapeutics, Inc. and also an independent consultant with more than 37 years' experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry in capacities ranging from sales and marketing positions to general management. He has extensive experience in the fields of dermatology, anti-infective, cardiovascular, oncology, psychiatric, orthopedic, dental and wound care products. His experience includes the advancement of medical ideas from research and development to commercial products, securing financing, and negotiating sales, marketing and distribution partnerships with major healthcare corporations.

Prior to becoming CEO of OnSite Therapeutics, Inc. and consulting, Mr. Gillis served as President and CEO of NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for 8 years. He took NUCRYST public on the NASDAQ and TSX in 2005. Mr. Gillis also served as President and CEO of Li Medical, a private medical device company, for 5 years. Prior to Li Medical, Mr. Gillis spent 15 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he worked in a number of divisions including Squibb, Westwood, Mead Johnson Pharmaceuticals, ConvaTec and Mead Johnson Oncology. At ConvaTec, he served as Vice President and General Manager of ConvaTec USA and later as Global Vice President, Wound and Skin Care.

A Boston native, Mr. Gillis has an MBA from Xavier University and a BA in Biology and Chemistry from Salem State College.

Steven C. Gilman, Ph.D.

Steven C. Gilman, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Gilman joined Cubist in 2008 as Senior Vice President, Discovery and Non-clinical Development and Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Gilman has more than 25 years of drug research and development experience. Before joining Cubist, he was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of ActivBiotics, Inc. While at ActivBiotics, Dr. Gilman led the transition of the organization from early research/academic stage to focus on advanced product development/commercialization. Previously he was Vice President and General Manager, Inflammation Franchise, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr. Gilman was responsible for pharmaceutical research units at Pfizer, Sterling Winthrop, Cytogen Corporation and Wyeth Laboratories in areas including chronic inflammatory diseases, transplant rejection, autoimmune diseases and bacterial infections.

Dr. Gilman has a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Pennsylvania State University and completed his post doctoral training in the Department of Immunopathology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California.

Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, Ph.D.

Dr. Gutierrez is Senior Vice President and head of the BioTherapeutics Research Group, which includes three Research Units (RUs), the global Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics and Metabolism - New Biological Entities (PDM-NBE) department, and the Global BioTherapeutic Technologies (GBT) department.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr. Gutierrez was SVP and Head of the Immuno-inflammation Center for Drug Discovery (iiCEDD) at GSK. Dr. Gutierrez built the iiCEDD as a global group of "drug hunters"  that included biologists, chemists, pharmacologists, protein scientists and clinicians who were responsible for the discovery of drugs in that space all the way to Phase IIa (POC).

Prior to GSK he served at AMGEN Mountain View as Site Head and CSO. Previous to the AMGEN acquisition of Avidia he was the SVP of R&D, where he led a significant effort of novel protein therapeutics for autoimmune disease. Before his AVIDIA appointment, he served as CSO of Peptimmune Inc. in Cambridge where he was responsible for the development of peptide based therapeutics for autoimmune disease, including MS and diabetes. Before Peptimmune, Dr. Gutierrez served as Vice President, Inflammation at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he built and led a group of more than 150 scientists.

Dr. Gutierrez was also a faculty member at the Genetics department of Harvard Medical School, where he led a research team at the Center for Blood Research. Before coming to the US, he was member of the Basel Institute for Immunology in Basel, Switzerland and a fellow at the Max-Plank for Immunbiologie in Freiburg, Germany. Dr. Gutierrez received his masters in Chemistry and his Ph.D. in Immunology from the Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain.

John J. Harrington

John Harrington is the Chief Commercial Officer for Sanofi-Aventis Oncology.  In this role, John is responsible for the Global Marketing and Sales responsibilities for the Sanofi-Aventis Oncology Portfolio.  He reports directly to Debasish Roychowdhury, the Senior Vice President and Head of the Oncology Team.

John has had 35 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry.  Most recently, he has led the Sanofi-Aventis US Oncology Business Unit and prior to that the Sanofi-Aventis Diabetes Business Unit.  He has had extensive general management experience including being the Vice President of Sales for Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Primary Care Sales, Vice President and General Manager of the West Region for Hoecsht Marion Roussel and also establishing one of the industry’s first managed care teams for Marion Laboratories, Marion Merrell Dow and Hoecsht Marion Roussel, Inc.

John is currently a member of ASCO and ASCR.  He has previously been an active member of the Diabetes Association and the ADA’s Industry Advisory Council.

Up until his relocation to Massachusetts, John was a Board Member of the Somerset Medical Center and also the Drug Distribution Research Center.  From a community respective, he is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Sons of Erin of Cape Cod.  John is married to his wife Susan and has three children.  He holds a Bachelors of Arts from Stonehill College and earned his MBA at Rockhurst University in Kansas City.

John K. Hennessy

As Executive Director and General Manager at AstraZeneca R&D Boston, Mr. Hennessy chairs the R&D Boston Site Leadership Team and is responsible for ensuring the delivery of quality services ranging from human resources to facilities and engineering that enable scientists on-site to focus on developing innovative therapies for cancer and infectious disease using powerful new technologies. He was responsible for overseeing the $100,000,000 expansion completed in Spring 2009, which brought the total size of the research facility to 382,000 square feet.

He has served on the MassBio Board of Directors since 2004, where he also serves as the Board representative to the Purchasing Advisory Group and on the executive committee of the Mass Life Sciences Education Consortium, a program of the MassBioEd Foundation. In Waltham, MA, where AstraZeneca R&D Boston is located, Mr. Hennessy is an active member of the Board of the Waltham/West Suburban Chamber of Commerce. He is a past president of the Waltham Partnership for Youth, and continues to serve on that Board of Directors.

Mr. Hennessy began his career in 1981 as an audit manager with Grant Thornton, CPAs.  After holding the position of Corporate Controller at Groundwater Technology Inc., he then served as Director of Finance for GTEL Environmental Labs, Inc.  Mr. Hennessy joined AstraZeneca in 1996 as Site Finance Director.

Mr. Hennessy is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, Financial Executives International and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, and is a certified public accountant in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  He holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Indiana.

Peter C. Isakson, Ph.D.

As Divisional Vice President, Dr. Peter Isakson is responsible for the oversight and strategic development of Abbott's Immunology and Biologics research program, and is Site Head for the Abbott Bioresearch Center in Worcester.

Prior to joining Abbott, Isakson served in a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Searle/Pharmacia, from 1991 to 2003; his final position at Pharmacia was Vice President, R&D Strategy. While at Searle/Pharmacia he played a key role in the discovery and development of Celebrex, the first selective COX-2 inhibitor approved for treatment of the signs and symptoms of arthritis. He has extensive experience in experimental and applied pharmacology and immunology. Dr. Isakson received a Bachelor of Science degree from Weber State College in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Washington University in 1976 under the direction of Dr. Philip Needleman. Post-doctoral work was done at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas with Drs. Jon Uhr and Ellen Vitetta. Dr. Isakson has published over 120 peer reviewed articles and numerous book chapters. He is currently on the Scientific Advisory Councils for the Life Sciences at WPI and the Center for Drug Discovery at Northeastern University.

Edwin M.  Kania, Jr.

Mr. Kania is the Managing Partner and Chairman of Flagship Ventures. Prior to co-founding Flagship Ventures in 2000, he spent 15 years as Managing General Partner of OneLiberty Ventures and as General Partner at its predecessor firm, Morgan Holland Ventures. His direct investment experience covers over 100 companies. In addition, he has been intimately involved in the launch and development of more than a dozen companies as the founding and lead investor. Mr. Kania is currently a director of Aspect Medical Systems (Nasdaq: ASPM), EXACT Sciences (Nasdaq: EXAS), Acceleron Pharma, Interactive Supercomputing, INTIO, Parasol Therapeutics, Pervasis Therapeutics, TARIS Biomedical, Inc., TransMedics, and VisEn Medical. He is also a member of The Johhs Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Science and Technology Development Industry. He holds a degree in physics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Laurie Bartlett Keating

Mrs. Bartlett Keating serves as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company. Ms. Keating is responsible for setting the company's legal, intellectual property and corporate quality strategies and priorities.

Prior to joining Millennium, Ms. Keating was co-founder and first CEO of Hydra Biosciences, Inc., a venture backed biotech company focused on developing drugs targeting novel ion channels. After joining Millennium in 2004, Ms. Keating remained a member of the Board of Directors of Hydra through 2007. Prior to Hydra, Ms. Keating served as an executive at high growth technology companies, including serving as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Iomega Corporation, a data storage company, and Sybase, Inc., a software company that grew from a few hundred to 6,000 employees during Ms. Keating's tenure on the management team. Based on her leadership at Sybase, Ms. Keating was named as one of the 45 most influential in-house lawyers in the United States under the age of 45. Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Keating practiced law at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen (now Bingham McCutchen) in San Francisco.

Ms. Keating has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Roger W. Louis, Esquire

Roger W. Louise is Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer & Healthcare and Regulatory Counsel at Genzyme.

He joined the Genzyme Legal Department in 1997. In December 1999 he was appointed Chief Compliance Officer by the Genzyme Board of Directors and developed one of the first corporate compliance programs in the biotech industry. He continues to lead the company’s global corporate compliance program and also manages the delivery of legal services related to regulatory, clinical, health care & reimbursement matters. In addition, he works closely with Genzyme’s Washington D.C office and other industry organizations, including PhRMA and Advamed, on public policy issues.  

Prior to joining Genzyme, Mr. Louis was chief corporate, strategic & finance counsel for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts. While in that position, Mr. Louis led the company’s legal efforts in developing innovative approaches to health care financing and delivery including creation of multi-specialty staff model HMOs and other integrated delivery systems.  He began his legal career in Boston as an associate in the corporate and securities department at Hale and Dorr.

Mr. Louis has a J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law and a B.A. from Tufts University.

Deanna Petersen

Deanna Petersen joined Shire in 2009 as Vice President of Business Development for Shire Human Genetic Therapies (HGT).  Deanna is a broadly skilled senior executive with 15 years of leadership experience in strategic planning and global business development.  Deanna is a member of Shire HGT’s senior leadership team and is responsible for identifying, evaluating and negotiating business opportunities.  Prior to joining Shire, Deanna was a Vice President at Anitgenics Inc. and Coley Pharmaceutical Group.  Deanna is on the Board of Directors for American DG Energy and is Co-Chair of the Business Development Committee for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Association.  Deanna holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Iowa State University and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Iowa.

Dr. David Reif

Dr. Reif serves as Associate Director of Cancer Research at AstraZeneca and sits on the MassBio board as Chairman of the MassBioEd Foundation Board of Directors.

Dr. Reif received his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of  Michigan, and his Ph.D. in 1990 in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Utah State University in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Aust.  He completed his post-doctoral training with Dr. Roy Simmons at Fisons Pharmaceuticals (a predecessor company to AstraZeneca) in Rochester, NY. Dr. Reif then joined the staff at Fisons where he led drug discovery project teams in the areas of Parkinson's Disease, ALS, and stroke in addition to leading the biochemistry group. In 2000, he was the first to join a new cancer discovery group within AstraZeneca at their facilities in Waltham. Dr. Reif is currently an Associate Director and Portfolio Manager within the cancer department and works as a member of the cancer management team in managing the portfolio of novel projects for cancer therapy. He also is the current chair of the senior site management team.

David is also intimately involved in many community outreach activities.  He is a key liaison for AstraZeneca's involvement with the New England chapter of the American Cancer Society (Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk and the Hope Lodge), the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, and the American Junior Academy of Sciences.  In addition, he currently serves as Chairman of the Lunenburg School Committee and sits on the Board of the Lunenburg Youth Soccer Association.

Steven Richter, Ph.D.

Dr. Richter is President & CEO at Microtest Laboratories Inc. With his expertise in Sterilization Sciences, Dr. Richter founded Microtest in 1984 after a 5-year career as a microbiologist at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Under his leadership, Microtest has provided the medical device, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries with premier testing and manufacturing support. Dr. Richter received a B.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, an M.S. degree Biological Sciences from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and a Ph.D. in Sterilization Sciences from Columbia Pacific University.

Amit K. Sachdev

Mr. Sachdev joined Vertex in July 2007 and currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Affairs. In this role, he leads the company's corporate communications, government affairs and public policy functions.

Mr. Sachdev came from Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) where he served as Executive Vice President, Health. At BIO, he was the senior executive responsible for managing BIO's health policy department and its Governing Board. Mr. Sachdev is the former Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he also held several other senior appointments from 2002 to 2005. At FDA, he oversaw the development of all FDA policies, regulations and legislation.

From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Sachdev served as Majority Counsel to the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Sachdev practiced law, first at the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and then with the law firm of Ropes and Gray. Mr. Sachdev received a B.S from Carnegie Mellon University, and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law.

Frank E. Thomas

Frank Thomas joined AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in August 2011.  Mr. Thomas is responsible for the Company's finance, accounting, treasury and corporate communications functions.

During his 19-year career, Mr. Thomas has held a variety of senior executive roles in the life sciences industry.  From 2008 to 2011, Mr. Thomas served as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Molecular Biometrics, a medical diagnostics company focused on reproductive medicine where he established the company’s manufacturing, distribution and business processes in support of product development and commercialization. Prior to his time with Molecular Biometrics, Mr. Thomas spent four years at Critical Therapeutics, Inc., where he was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer from the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer to lead a turnaround effort, refocus the company on new product opportunities and improve operational execution. Mr. Thomas also served on the Board of Directors of Critical Therapeutics until 2008.  Prior to 2004, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations at Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., a development-stage biotechnology company focused on a cardiovascular product.  Mr. Thomas’s prior positions include senior director of finance, corporate controller and audit roles with Mechanical Dynamics Inc., and Arthur Anderson LLP from 1992 to 2000, respectively. Since 2007, Mr. Thomas has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Mr. Thomas holds a B.B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Charles Wilson, Ph.D.

Charles 'Chuck' Wilson, PhD serves as Vice President and Global Head of Strategic Alliances, leading the group responsible for externally oriented research at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the business unit of Novartis responsible for drug discovery and early clinical development. Partnering efforts include broad academic relationships to improve the understanding of basic disease processes, biotech collaborations focused on new drug discovery technologies, and in-licensing of compounds that have yet to reach clinical proof-of-concept.  Prior to joining Novartis, Chuck founded and led Archemix, a biotech company focused on the development of aptamers as therapeutics.  Responsible initially as its Chief Technology Officer for developing the company's technology platform and managing its drug discovery efforts, he moved into a business role focused on establishing partnerships with large pharma and biotech companies.  Before moving into industry, Chuck was an Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  There he determined the first x-ray crystal structures of RNA aptamers bound to their targets.  Formally trained in structural biology and molecular biology, Chuck received his PhD from the University of California, San Francisco and his post-doctoral training in the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Lawrence S. Wittenberg

Mr. Wittenberg, a partner in Goodwin Procter's Technology Companies Group and co-chair of its Life Sciences Practice, focuses his practice in matters involving life sciences. He joined Goodwin Procter in 2005.

Mr. Wittenberg has been an active participant in the life sciences industry since the mid-1980s, and his practice focuses exclusively on biotechnology and other life sciences companies. His clients range in size from start-ups to public companies, and he assists them with a full range of corporate and intellectual property transactions, including venture capital financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, licenses and technology transfer agreements, as well as with general legal and strategic advice.

Mr. Wittenberg also represents venture capital groups with respect to their investments in life sciences companies and investment banks in connection with public and private financings. He has structured and negotiated corporate partnering transactions with numerous world-wide pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to joining Goodwin Procter, Mr. Wittenberg was a partner in the Business Practice Group at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, where he headed the Life Science Practice. Mr. Wittenberg holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University.

 

Robert Gottlieb

Robert Gottlieb, who is the Principal at the communications and strategy consulting firm, RMG Associates,  has more than 30 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as a consultant on strategy and communications, in-house communications director, and journalist.  

He has substantial experience and a strong track record in work with well over 100 companies and organizations ranging from start-ups in and outside of the U.S. to multi-nationals. Robert and RMG Associates bring particular expertise in corporate positioning, external and internal communications strategy, and preparation for financing and partnering.  He has helped more than 20 clients develop business plans to support venture and public financings.  

Robert co-founded Feinstein Kean Healthcare (now a division of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide), a Massachusetts-based communications and business consulting firm focused exclusively on biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and related healthcare organizations. Robert has been an active member of the biotechnology community in Massachusetts for more than 25 years. Robert served as an advisor to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council for over 15 years. He also participates as a mentor in MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service and as a member of the Board of Directors of the New England Israel Business Council.

Previously, Robert directed press relations and corporate communications at Biogen Inc., during a period that laid the foundation for the company’s turnaround. He also managed communications for Biogen’s Research and Development Limited Partnership.

Prior to Biogen, Robert was executive editor of F-D-C Reports, “The Pink Sheet,” During his ten-years at “The Pink Sheet,” he covered the FDA and drug regulation, pharmaceutical business and the emergence of biotechnology as an industry.  He also founded a reference publication for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, The NDA Pipeline, which has been published annually for more than 25 years.

Robert holds a B.A. degree from Trinity College (Connecticut).

William P. McDermott

Bill McDermott is a partner in the law firm of McDermott, Quilty & Miller LLP.  He specializes in state and federal relations in the government affairs and business strategies practice.  With a wealth of public and private sector experience, Bill's primary focus is on governmental relations, regulatory law and procurement for clients involved in biotechnology, health care, real estate development and technology-based industries.

Prior to joining the firm, Bill was a founding member of ML Strategies and attorney with the law firm of Mintz, Levin.  Bill was Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at ML/MLS from 1990-2000.  Among his accomplishments, Bill has successfully directed a number of major initiatives through the Massachusetts State Legislature, including the passage of the Economic Stimulus I and II bills, the Stem Cell bill and the $1B Life Sciences Initiative.

Bill's extensive experience in public service includes his appointment as Chief Counsel to the Massachusetts State Senate's Ways and Means Committee in 1988, and his appointment in 1983 as Undersecretary and General Counsel to the Executive Office of Economic Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where he completed his service as Acting Secretary.  Prior to returning to Massachusetts, Bill worked for the United States Congress in various capacities, including a position with Congressman Joe Moakley, former Chairman of the Rules Committee.

Bill has served as Legislative Counsel to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council since 1994.

Bill received his Law Degree from American University and his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  He also completed graduate studies at Georgetown University and received his Bachelor's Degree from Boston College.  He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

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